Here you'll find articles about Ravenna and the Riddle family. We have tried to order them so that one could read from first to last and end up with a sense of how Ravenna has changed along with the fortunes of the hearse and coach company. Most of the pictures found in the articles were added by the web master.
Most of these articles come from the scrapbooks of Mary Fitz-Gerald Riddle. From New Jersey, she came to Ravenna in 1904 when she married a son of Henry Riddle I, Henry Riddle II, who called himself Warner. She died in 1968.
Mary in her 20s . . .
. . . in her 30s
After 50 years of marriage, in 1964.
Written by Mark Theobald. Appeared online at coachbuilt.com. A clear and authoritative history of the company.
Published in The Automobilist. The story of the Riddle Manufacturing Company between 1916 and 1926.
For the company that would become Merts and Riddle, then Riddle Hearse and Coach, and finally Riddle Manufacturing Company. The oldest document in the archive.
From Golden Wheels: The Story of the Automobiles Made in Cleveland and Northeastern Ohio, 1892–1932, by Richard Wager. Published by Western Reserve Historical Society.
Article appeared in the local paper. Below the article is a hand-written letter detailing part of the dissolution of the Merts-Riddle partnership.
Letters written from the head office of Riddle Coach and Hearse to salesmen and clients. Masterpieces of salesmanship and flowery language with some literary merit.
Article appeared in the local paper.
Hugh Riddle, at age 75, recalls boyhood memories of the Riddle Company, the first motorized hearse, and the Palace Coach.
128 pages, PDF. The booklet was reprinted in 2011 by local historian Jack Schafer, who wrote in the preface:
"October 2011. One hundred years after its original publication by Hinman & Stidsen, and K.T. Siddall for Old Home Week in 1909, this is a faithful scan and reproduction of Ravenna Beautiful. This little booklet, now quite rare, remains one of the most important sources of information about the history of Ravenna, Ohio.
The year 1909 in many ways represented the apogee of Ravenna's regional economic power and influence. New manufacturing businesses in the forefront of manufacturing technology were opening or about to open in the city. Three main line railroads served the city with daily passenger service to all parts of the country. Two interurban streetcar lines linked the city with its larger neighbors. A modern fresh water and sanitary sewer system was in place. The city had an enviable public school system with several new school buildings. Large new homes in the latest architectural styles were being erected in town along with very substantial modern business blocks downtown. Though Ravenna would continue to grow during the rest of the twentieth century, it would never again achieve the same level of competitive financial, cultural, and economic prominence among its peers."
A hard copy of the book is available on Amazon.com.
The unknown writer apparently worked in the factory. The writer mentions the velocipede that Merts and Riddle manufactured.
A concise history of downtown Ravenna architecture.
Article about the dedication of Riddle Block 1.
Article about the graduation of Emily Robinson in 1861.
By H. W. Riddle.
Reminiscences of an early settler in the Ravenna area.
From the pages of the Portage County Democrat.
The death of Charles Merts.
By Maxwell Riddle.
By Maxwell Riddle.
Hugh Riddle, grandson of Henry Riddle I, started another manufacturing company in Ravenna.
Maxwell Riddle remembers Ohio winters in the 1910s and 20s.
The Riddle properties were sold in June 1984.
The story of the beginnings of Robinson Memorial Hospital.